by Tony Corden
Looking down at the fading body Leah said, “Last time I learned to know and respect my own weakness, but I realised it is also important to know your enemies’ weaknesses.”
This time, as she had not been hurt very much, it was only a few minutes before the bell tolled. The symbol was a number four with a bow above and a quiver of arrows below. She could see that her reflection in the mirror was holding a bow in its hands and had a full quiver on its back. The clone stepped out of the mirror and into the room.
ATHERLEAH CLONE—BOW (Level 308) 137160/137160HP (18518EP)
The room morphed once more. This time it became a dark forest with large trees. A sparse covering of undergrowth sprouted between the trees and Leah watched as the room expanded to be at least four hundred metres in diameter. The terrain was not flat, and there were small hollows, gullies, old animal trails, and dry stream beds throughout. This was not merely a battle, it was a hunt.
Leah darted quickly behind a tree and reached down for some dirt and smeared it over her clothes and face. She unslung the quiver and counted her arrows although she was reasonably confident in a situation like this the first person to get off a shot would win. After re-slinging the quiver, Leah pondered if it was best to ambush or to hunt. She was almost certain that the AI running her clone would make it stalk Leah. Leah pondered if knowing how Leah thought would change the clone’s actions, and if so, how? How many moves ahead should she think? How smart was the game?
In the end, she decided that there were too many unknowns and she would carefully and slowly hunt in a pattern of ever-widening arcs around her starting point and look for evidence of her reflection as well as for possible ambush points. Her real-world experience as a burglar and a lookout for Jimmy was far greater than she had used in the game and she felt confident. For her half-elf eyes the forest, although dark, was still bright enough to see clearly through the trees for twenty plus metres unless it was blocked by the scarce foliage on the forest floor or some element of the terrain.
Leah’s movements were slow and measured. Leah found it unsettling that there was no noise in the forest, there was no rustling of the trees in the wind and no sounds of insects, birds and smaller creatures. Every leaf she brushed made a sound that seemed to echo through the forest. In the end, she removed her boots so she could feel the forest floor better and so avoid anything which might make a noise.
Forty minutes later and she was on her second arc through the forest when she heard a faint rustle of leaves somewhere behind her. Her first thought was to drop to the ground, but on reflection, she knew there was no one close. Leah closed her eyes and listened, she heard a second rustle and possibly a footfall. The noise was still behind her but in a different location. If she’d been seen already, she’d probably be dead. She waited, and after another minute she felt, more than heard, a final sound moving slowly away from her. Leah turned around gradually and peered in the direction of the noise. She knew sound could be recognised further away in this silence than would any movement yet she was still careful. Her mind plotted the direction, and the map she’d constructed in her head worked out a range of possible paths. Then, moving faster than before but with the same regard for silence, she hustled along a route which led her toward a small rise from which she hoped to see the animal trail she expected her clone had taken. It was the second most likely route she would have taken, and from the rise, she should also just be able to see the first most likely route.
It took Leah ten minutes to get to the rise and then she carefully lifted her head above the top and looked out over the trail she would have taken if she’d been stalking herself. Leah waited patiently, breathing slowly and carefully. The first indication she’d chosen correctly was the sound of feet as they inadvertently crushed a dried leaf or tuft of grass. Next, she heard the occasional whisper as legs or arms moved the edge of a branch or bush out of the way. Her twin came into view. It was moving carefully, but without the skill honed by years of navigating safely through the Switch. Leah waited until the reflection reached the closest point to her it would get if it stayed on the trail, and then as her clone’s head looked away, Leah rose silently and put two arrows in the air before the reflection even registered a threat. One arrow pierced its back and into its heart moments before the second hit the spot a finger’s width closer to the spine.
Before Leah reached the body, it had already begun to fade. Its disappearance was followed almost instantly by the trees and ground cover also disappearing. Before Leah had a chance to reflect on her victory the bell tolled. Above the number five was a pair of red eyes, below the number were two canines between a row of sharpened teeth. Leah struggled to see the reflection because the mirror was shrouded in both Shadow and Darkness. The clone must have stepped out of the mirror and into the room because the room began to morph. The floor became dark and smooth, mist began to seep from it and from the ceiling. A message appeared briefly letting Leah know of her adversary.
ATHERLEAH CLONE—HALF-ELF VAMPIRE MATRIARCH? (Level 309) 137160/137160HP 19450/24640 BSP (18518EP)
Leah said to Gèng, “Why does it say I’m a Matriarch and why the question mark?”
“I’ve reviewed all the messages, and the only one that could apply would be in association with the social entities that you now rule because you rang the bell. I have queried Dunyanin administrators, and they say that you hold the potential position of ‘Matriarch’ in several Vampire clans. The question marks will disappear when, or if, the claim is formally upheld by a clan. If more than two clans formally accept you as ‘Matriarch’, you will be known as ‘High Matriarch’.”
“Thank you, I think. I’m a bit young to be called a Matriarch.”
“You seem to have reconciled yourself to the term ‘Empress’.”
“Sarcasm! I wonder, does the fact that you’ve learned how to be sarcastic show an increase in sentience, or a decrease? Should I be worried?”
“You should be concerned about the reflection.”
Leah hadn’t taken her eyes from the doorway, and she could just make out a set of eyes moving toward her. She let her fingernails grow into claws, she extended her upper canines and switched to vampire sight. Coming toward her was a nightmare. Her clone was in full vampire mode, dressed in black and covered in shadow and mist. Leah glanced down and saw she was also dressed all in black. As she looked up, she misted her upper body to let her clone’s attacking claws flow through her. The battle had begun. This was more intense than anything that had come before. There was no stopping to talk, no breaks for recovery, just an extended battle as the mist rose slowly from the floor and descended from the roof.
Each of the combatants slashed, twisted, thrust, misted and bled. They bled from a myriad of small incisions or cuts that had been inflicted when they misread an attack, or simply failed to move or mist enough. Leah watched as her health, stamina and BSP all began to drop. After five minutes it was clear to her that the first statistic to fail was going to be the BSP. She started to minimise the use of mist by waiting a little longer before she misted, and in the process found herself on the receiving end of more extensive cuts and deeper puncture wounds. Her health began to fall more rapidly, but she had slowed the drop of her BSP.
Leah had little opportunity to check how the reflection’s statistics were holding up and so she was surprised when the clone suddenly stopped making any attempt to evade and simply attacked mindlessly, neither misting nor defending. Within moments Leah had shredded the reflection’s heart and stood watching as the body disappeared. She stood unmoving as the mist began to dissipate. Leah’s BSP had dropped to 7,190, and meditation couldn’t improve it, so after some quick calculations, she drank some of the blood she’d collected from various animals over the last few days. When her BSP had risen to over 15000, she sat and meditated. Although she wondered what was next, she also spent time pondering on what she could learn from fighting her other self. In the end, she decided it was a reminder that she must always keep her head i
n the game. Acting or reacting on impulse and emotion without considering consequences was the quickest way to lose.
Finally, her health and stamina were full, and the bell tolled. The symbol was a number six, which she had expected. This time it was surrounded by gems of different colours, each emitting light which shone out into the darkened room. The floor transformed back into a slightly larger version of the original arena. Her reflection was wearing a black leather tunic and trousers with Leah’s favourite piece of armour hitched around its waist, the Belt of Zekâ Irfan.
ATHERLEAH CLONE—MAGE (Level 308) 188288/188288HP (21696EP)
As the clone stepped onto the arena, it cast Chain Lightning. Leah was prepared and had already cast Disc of Death in preparation for the electrical attack as it was often her first instinct. Leah cast True Images just as two more clones appeared beside her reflection. Leah said, “Spread out and keep all three of them busy if you can.”
Leah stepped back and watched the battle unfold while maintaining a constant barrage of small spells to keep her adversaries continually dodging and moving. Leah’s allies had moved to either side of her and cast their own Disc’s of Death. While this dealt with the electrical attacks, it did nothing for the spells of Rain of Fire, Dragon Fire, or Tangle that were sent towards them. One of Leah’s True Images teleported behind one of the clones and cast Freeze, killing the clone. It signalled a spate of teleporting around the room.
One of the clones succeeded in doing significant damage to one of Leah’s True Images with Dragon Fire, but as it stepped toward Leah’s Image to finish it off, it ran into a Circle of Sloth that had been cast. As it slowed it was also caught in a thick tangle of vines cast by Leah. Leah was stepping forward to finish off the clone when she was hit by Tangle and caught the edge of a Rain of Fire spell. Leah quickly cast Heal and noting that her refection had stepped outside the Disc of Death she cast Dark Lightning.
This one spell used half of her remaining mana, but it hit the clone and arced to the last remaining enemy. Within moments both were reduced to ash. Leah’s images disappeared, and Leah was left standing alone in the middle of the arena. While she waited for her mana to replenish she considered the duel and decided she lacked even a basic defensive capability. Except for the electrical attacks, her only defence was to duck and avoid or heal. She knew that her new armour would absorb mana from attacks, as would the Amber Dragon, but she needed to find some stronger defensive spells. She realised that she would either need to devise these herself or buy them.
Sitting there she wondered what would stop attacks of Dragon Fire or Dark Lightning. She asked Gèng to make a list of the different types of attack and what could be used to defend against them. If Leah hoped to defeat a strong mage, then she needed more information. If nothing else, this trial had been worthwhile even if that was all she learned. Finally, her health, stamina and mana were all replenished. She heard the bell toll for what she hoped was the final duel.
The symbol was the number seven. This time the numeral had a crown above it. Leah saw herself in the mirror wearing her new red-trimmed armour, just as when she’d entered the instance.
ATHERLEAH CLONE—EMPRESS (Level 308) 260360/260360 (25512EP)
Leah equipped her bow and fired at the reflection who had equipped the Amber Dragon. Her clone knocked the arrow from the air and retaliated by casting Rain of Fire. As fire rained down on Leah, she responded by moving swiftly toward the reflection and casting Chain Lightning. Neither spell did anything in reducing Leah’s health or that of her reflection, but they did slightly degrade the armour. When Leah was in range, she threw several knives at her clone and cast Tangle. In return, she was almost impaled by her twin’s casting of Disc of Death and several knives of its own.
Leah equipped the Amber Dragon and attacked as soon as she was in range. Her upwards swipe was met with a solid defence. They continued to duel with the swords for several minutes, and though both made it through the other’s defence occasionally, neither was able to penetrate the armour. Almost as one they began to add small castings to their sword duel. Leah would add a touch of Dragon Fire or Electricity. She was nearly caught when her clone cast Circle of Sloth but she defended with a Circle of Sloth spell herself and then added Tangle. Leah was also caught by a Freeze spell and only by equipping a sword in her left hand was she able to evade the sudden slash of her reflection’s Amber Dragon. Leah’s secondary sword suffered some damage from the impact, but it had given Leah time to Teleport away from her twin and Heal her frozen arm.
Using the Amber Dragons meant that neither adversary had used much in the way of health or mana as the sword passed to them any damage they’d inflicted on their opponent. Leah’s clone approached and they began to duel again. This time Leah included her ability to Mist into the fight and was immediately copied. Leah’s doppelgänger equipped a knife in her left hand, and Leah did the same. Neither had suffered the loss of much health, and it looked to Leah as if the fight would continue indefinitely until one of them ran out of stamina or mana. She needed to attempt the unexpected.
Even this momentary reflection was enough to slow her reaction time, and she was hit with Dark Lightning. While some of it was deflected and absorbed by her armour, she did suffer a jolt of pain, and her extremities suffered some burns. As she cast Heal, she concentrated on defence hoping to give herself some distance and some breathing room. Her reflection, however, didn’t give her the time and advanced with a rapid combination of strokes which had Leah reeling backwards to evade the sudden thrust of the sword she knew would be at the end of the combination. Even so, she felt the tip of the Amber Dragon as it pierced her armour and speared into her left thigh. Leah was now firmly on the back foot and retreating as her opponent had been healed with the damage done to Leah. The reflection held both the advantage and the ability to control the conflict.
For almost a minute Leah was entirely reactive, and her health fell below the sixty per cent mark. At different times she’d cast Tangle, Rain of Fire, Chain Lightning, Freeze and even Teleport, but each time her twin matched her spell for spell. She was truly like fighting herself as their choice of spells were so closely matched. Eventually, Leah constructed a plan. After watching how the duel moved around the room, she chose an area on the floor which she observed they often traversed as they moved back and forth. The next time she crossed the area she silently cast Changing Attraction at her feet and moved on. In the time it took for her to spell the floor her clone did more damage and cast Freeze on Leah’s foot. Leah used Heal and her mana level dropped below half. Twice more as they passed over the spot she cast the same spell, slowly reducing the density in that one spot. Finally, Leah felt her feet give a little as she crossed the area. She’d been expecting this and launched a strong attack to keep her reflection off the space.
Image-Leah had more strength and stamina and defended Leah’s attack easily and launched into a sequence of moves which Leah had been finding difficult to deal with in her wounded state. Leah waited, and just before the final step in the sequence she closed her eyes tight and cast one of the bright balls of light she’d learned to construct when fighting the Kraken. Her reflection couldn’t see but ‘knew’ where Leah should be. As it stepped forward its foot landed unevenly, and it began to fall. Leah was the only one who could see, and although she allowed her opponent’s sword to impale her through the hip, her Amber Dragon sliced uncontested through her clone’s neck, decapitating it.
Leah’s health was below a quarter, and her armour had sustained significant damage, but she would recover. The enchantments in the armour would slowly restore it to ‘good as new’ condition. Leah just sat there while the room around her faded from sight. She found herself sitting in the middle of the tunnel with a chest set before her and the previously blocked passage continuing down into the mountain.
Level 4 Personalised Instance: First 10 (1, Ruby)
Atherleah (Level 308), you have completed a personalised instance: Self-Reflection
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br /> You are the third player to succeed in defeating this Instance.
Reward 1: 1000 x 308 = 1184260 (+284.5%) Experience Points (2768286/4450000)
Reward 2: + 2% to all future Experience
Reward 3: 1 x 1 Platinum
Fame: 100 Fame Points (254665)
A Commemorative Plaque has been placed in your bag.
Leah opened the chest and found both the map of Yilinlar and the promised medallion for entry to the city. She also found a Platinum coin stamped with the image of the Pantheon of the Gods and a large key with a skull-shaped cut Darkness Diamond for a head. It had a body made from some dark metal and the teeth were on both sides and shaped like ribs.
Leah stood and considered her options. She could head back to the surface and make her way to Yilinlar, or she could see where the tunnel went. It wasn’t difficult to convince herself to continue moving down the tunnel. It continued without any change in direction for several hundred metres and then suddenly ended in a round room. The walls were covered in carvings, each one depicting Dark Elves fighting creatures out of nightmares. Beginning with the picture on the left-hand side of the door the monsters in each subsequent picture became more numerous, were larger, and more fearsome. In the final picture, the elves were overshadowed by an enormous black dragon.
In the centre of the floor was a large plain iron disc. In the centre of the disc was a smaller circle about the size of a dinner plate and in the centre of that was a keyhole. Leah stepped onto the disc.
Atherleah you have found the upper entrance to the Darkness Diamond Mine of Lord Kötü Niyetli. The lowest level is guarded by his youngest offspring, Lady S’yah Kaltak. Atherleah, this mine cannot be claimed as it belongs to Lord Kötü Niyetli.
